A big learning curve

4 posts in this topic

Im fairly new here and there is some excellent information to take in, thank you to everyone for sharing your secrets.

My main interest is building balsa crankbaits, thats what I like to use and thats what I've caught most of my fish on.

My way of thinking is that its perhaps easier to understand how to make something by taking apart an allready finished item, with that thought in mind I took the tools to an old Rapala lure that I had.

I realise that this might be a bit old hat for the experienced guys here but it might help some of us new boys.

My first impression is that I was a bit dissapointed when I took it apart, not at all what I was expecting to find, it seems to me to be a bit thrown together.

From what my limited abilities found out was that the body seems to be shaped then a hole is cut for the lead weight, this seems to be done with a round saw (circular spinning blade?) the weight is inserted then the pre formed wire is wrapped around it, the 2 loose ends of the wire have been shapened and seem to have just been pushed into the body. The vane is then put in place before the whole thing is wrapped in silver foil (does'nt seem to be any treatment of the wood). It is then coated in some resin (epoxy?) and then finished off with the top painted blue and the bottom white, a touch of red on the throat section and a painted eye.

This method sems to work well and produce a very sucessfull lure.

Can anyone that fastens the wire in different ways comment on this?

How does this way compare?

If the wood is covered will it need treating first?

Does anyone here build in this way?

Is this a better (or easier) method than building in 2 halfs and putting the wire through the middle?

There were many gaps between the wire and wood, but not noticable due to the foil and resin, do you have to be that accurate when building your lures of is this just a quicker way?

Lots of questions but like I said its a big learning curve.

The picture shows both sides of the lure.

Scott.

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There is a tutorial "The Making of Seluang" (by me ) where I describe cutting a centre slot for the thru wire - it's in the TU KnowledgeBase http://www.tackleunderground.com/mx/index.php?page=10&mode=article&k=24. And ArtBrush did post some of his tutorial links in quite a recent post, (couldn't remember which one) but the tutorial does have a very detail describtion of making a wire harness for moulded lures which can be adapted for inserting into a wooden lure as well.

As for your dissection of an old Rapala and sharing it, it's admirable. I believe the one you disseceted is an older version of the Rapala CountDown series. They have since done the wire thru slightly differently. Check out this page: http://thebassman.tripod.com/Rap-Info-22.html and click on CD-9 & CD-9b. As for strenght wise, IMHO the new version when glued in with epoxy is as strong as needed for normal fishes - I couldn't say that for muskies or arowanas though.

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Your choice of hook hangers (either wire or screw eyes) really depends on the type of bait/wood/intended target species and so on. Bottom line - you want balsa baits... IF you're after pike...you'll be creating "through wire" construction. I wouldn't trust screw eyes in balsa for pike.

You don't need to make the lure in two halves, but you will need to cut a slot down the centre to insert the wire and any ballast. You can then fill the slot with epoxy (adralite?) and sand smooth. The difficulty in making the bait in two halves is in keeping it symmetrical. You could make it in one piece, cut in half, add wire and ballast and then reassemble, but why?

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